Striping-finger construction for knitting machines



April 6 1926. v I 1,580,072

K. NEBEL STRIPING FINGER CONSTRUCTION FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Dec. 5. 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 KM MM 5 26-6 flaw K. NEBEL STRIPING FINGER CONS TRUCT'LON FOR KNITTING MACHINES April 6 1926.

Filed Dec. 5, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 j [Ma-Wad Patented Apr. 6, 1 926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- KARL NEBEL, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIeNon; 'ro MERRILL IIOs'IERY COMPANY, OF HOBNELL, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION or NEW ronx.

STRIPING-FINGER CONSTRUCTIONFOB KNITTING MACHINES.

Application filed December 5, 1924. Serial No. 754,143.

To all whom it may concern."

Be 1t known that I, KARL NEBEL, a' citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented Striping- Finger Constructions for Knitting Machines, of which the following is a specifi cation.

My invention relates to thread guides for knitting machines, particularly those of the straight or flat type. L

The particular form of thread guide forming the subject of my invention may be termed a stri ing finger, as it isused co- 1 I duce striping fingers that will permit of,

and mechanism for, automatically -moving' said striping fingers to their inoperative position w on such fingers'interfere with the narrowing operation of themachine.

In the accompanyingdrawings:

Figure 1 is a transverse sectional view of suflicient of the elements of a straight knitting machine to illustrate my invention;

' Fi 2 is a face view of a series of striping ger units positioned on an operating shaft, and

' Fig. 3 is a section on the line- 3-3, Fig. 1, taken through one of the finger units.

Referring to Figure 1, 1 indicates the needles of a full fashioned hosiery knitting machine. 2, 2, are the narrowing bars, having narrowing points 3 extending downwardly from arms 4, 4, secured to the narrowing bars 2, 2.

Striping units 5 are mounted on a rock shaft 6 operatively supported in the knitting machme. ,Each of the striping units 5 consists of a sleeve 7 secured to the shaft'6 by a set *screw -85 The sleeve 7 has a flange 9 at each of its sides, between which is mounted a split collar 10 rotatable on the body of semi sleeve 7. The split collar 10 comprises two sepa- 5.1

rate portions 11 and 12 secured together by screws 13 adapted to projections 14 and 15 on the portion 11 and projections .16 and 17 i on the portion 12. v

The projection 15 is elongated and has ad- 60 justably attached thereto, by screws 18, an extension 19'. A,block 20 is secured to the outer end of the extension 19 and is adapted to receive thin fingers 21, which are secured in the said block 20 by a clamping 05 plate 22 and a screw 23. p

' The portion 11 of the collar 10 has a flattened portion 24 in the face of which is a circular aperture 25 adapted to receive a ball. 26. The body portion of the sleeve is slotted as at 27 and 28 for the reception of the ball 26. A fiat spring 29 engages the ball adjacent the face 24: of the collar 10' and is secured tothe projection 15 thereof by screws 30, 3,0.

The portion 12 of the collar 10 is slotted I at 31 to permit a relative rotation between the collar 10 and the set screw 8 whereby the bushing is secured to-the shaft 6 against any r relative movement therebetween.

A perforated stirrup 32 is rigidly secured to the sides of the block 20, the perforated isection thereof underlying the plate 23 for passage of threads at to the fingers 21.

The'fingers 21 are designed to be passed 4 between certain of the needles 1 by a rocking motion ofthe shaft 6. The shaft 6 and fingers 21 are then shogged, laterally, a distance.equal to the spacingof the needles 1.

The fingers 21 are then moved forwardly between the needles 1, thereby laying a thread around said needles.

' The rocking and shogging motions of the shaft and consequently the fingers 21 are executed by mechanism forming. nopart of the present invention. I

As the narrowing bars 2, 2, are movedtoward each other, by mechanism forming no part of the present invention, for the purposepf reducing the width of the stockas 1s common in the art, a projecting lug 33 on the narrowing point supporting arms 4, 4, strikes the extension 15 of the outermost units 5 when said units are rocked rearwardly at their lower ends. Continued rearward motion of the said outer units 5 turns the split collars 10- thereof On the.-

sleeves 7, whereby the 26 move out of the spots 27 and into the spots 28 on said sleeves. This action moves the said units from their operative or full line position in Figure 1 to their inoperative or broken line position in said figure.

The shaft 6 may be turned to an extent wherein the units 5 will assume a position shown in dotted lines in Figure 1 and whereby the said units 5 are entirely removed from the proximity of the needles 1 for purposes well known in the art. This, however, forms no part of the present invention.

As will be apparent from the above description, the fingers 21 may be moved to either an operative or an inoperative position and locked therein. When in an operative position they may be moved, automatically, to an inoperative position, by mechanism designed to cooperate with certain of the needles during the narrowing process.

I claim:

1. The combination in a thread carrier, of an operating shaft; a fixed member on 'said shaft; a movable member on said fixed member; knitting needles; thread guiding fingers on said movable members for placing threads around said needles; narrowing bars, narrowing points on said narrowing bars, for cooperative association with said needles; means operable by the narrowing bars for moving the thread guiding fingers to an inoperative position when said narrowing points are cooperating with the needles; and means for retaining said fingers in either of their positions.

2. The combination in a thread carrier for knitting machines, of an operating shaft suitably mounted on the frame of said knitting machine; a flanged sleeve on said shaft; means for retaining said sleeve in a fixed position on said shaft; a movable member mounted on said sleeve, thread eyes on'said movable-member adapted to carry a thread to the needles of the knitting machine; a slot in said movable member for permitting adjustment of said sleeve retaining means on the operating shaft, regardless of the position of the movable member thereon;

and means for retaining said movable memher in any one of a plurality of positions to which it may be moved on said sleeve.

3. The combination in a thread carrier for knitting machines, of an operating shaft suitably mounted on the frame of said knitting machine; a flanged sleeve fixed to said shaft; a movable member on said fixed sleeve; thread eyes on said movable member adapted to carry a thread to the needles of said knitting machine; countersunk depressions in said sleeve; an aperture in said movable member; a retaining element in said aperture and engaging one of said countersunk depressions; and means for resiliently sustaining said retaining element in said depression for the purpose of preventing accidental relative movement between said movable members and said fixed sleeve.

KARL NEBEL.

ill 

